Another two weeks, another letter. Two days have passed since the last letter, and we have an even more snowy journal letter. It consists of four entries over 4 days; she begins on Saturday, and for the next three days, the day she sits down again is underlined: Sunday, Monday,Tuesday. This time it’s confusing to go strictly chronologically (close read in the order of the letter) as the letter is disjointed, moving back and forth associatively and according an immediate stimulus; but to go thematically altogether loses the sense of context. So I move back and forth.

The particular interest of the letter is Henry is reading Mansfield Park and Austen watching him keenly; he tries to please her. She has begun Emma; Emma is on her mind and we see her going to the theater where she sees plays that influenced her conception and shows familiarity with a number of actor and singer’s careers; Robert Wm Elliston, Edmund Kean, Catherine Stephens.

It may not be a coincidence that she named her secondary heroine, Miss Smith, after seeing a Miss Smith on the stage.

Young men are courting her niece, Fanny, and she must stand by, be chaperon, facilitator, watch Fanny make choices she would not make, go out in the snow to keep Fanny active. Edward is involved in two court cases and writing a woman friend. She is famously unimpressed by Byron’s Corsair and plots her and Cassandra’s movements around what they surmize Henry wants and, together with Madame Bigeon, are sure to get raspberry jam for him.

We might compare this rapid getting down of journal entries, to be sent to her sister, to Frances to her sister, Susan. The comparison falls down here, though, as I do not recall Fanny Burney ever apologizing to Susan for writing to her or deprecating her anger or scolding for writing too much. “Do not be angry with me for beginning another Letter to you.” Jane and Cassandra’s relationship is still fraught with opposing attitudes and needs.

Diana remarked: “It is two days since the last letter, and Jane Austen is still at Henrietta Street. And she begins with one of her most famous sayings: ‘I have read the Corsair, mended my petticoat, & have nothing else to do.’ This is usually taken to mean that she was not overly impressed by Byron, and we can easily imagine it would have been a very Sir Walter Elliot/Admiral Croft situation (“reciprocal compliments, which would have been esteemed about equal”).

Since the poem quickly became well-known and was seen as seethingly exciting & lurid, Austen is making a statement by making it the equivalent of mending her petticoat. Maybe Austen senses what others feel are false titillation while they sit in their secure parlors.

Diana: “Nasty weather, “Thickness & Sleet,” and “Getting out is impossible,” but yet social life goes on. Young Wyndham Knatchbull accepts an invitation and is thought of as “he may do for Fanny,” but she will later marry his older brother, whose wife will die first. They are to see friends, Mrs. Latouche and Miss East, and to avoid Miss Harriet Moore, friend of Henry’s. A domestic detail: Henry is out of Raspberry Jam, Madame Bigeon offers some – so will Cassandra bring a pot when she comes?

They are expecting and on Sunday considerably after four o’clock Edward and Fanny arrive. For their sakes young Wyndham has been invited (for Fanny), they are stuck going to Mrs Latouche and [her daughter] Miss East in two weeks. She groans (half-dreading it already), and is not made more sociable by Miss H. Moore’s (Harriot’s note) apologizing for not returning Jane’s visit and says they (Henry and Jane) can come this evening. “Thank you says Jane” ” but we shall be better engaged.” Not keen on any of it as usual.

In this letter we see that Fanny Austen Knight was the object of courtship by three suitors: Wildman, Wyndham, and Plumptre — not to omit the presence of George Hatton hanging around at a distance. She was an heiress, young, very conventional, pretty enough. What’s not to like? for a similar kind of male.

First, it seems that the niece did not share her aunt’s taste in men. We’ve seen this before and the first candidate is reacting to what happened before: Jane on Saturday: “Young Wyndham accepts the Invitation. He is such a nice, gentlemanlike unaffected sort of Man, that I think he may do f for Fanny; — has a sensible, quiet look which one likes.” Fanny had discouraged the young man previously, for on Sunday we read: “This young Wyndham does not come after all; a very long & very civil note of excuse is arrived. It makes one moralize upon the ups & downs of this Life … ”

As Jane turns away from, dismissed Byron’s Corsair with remarks on mending her petticoat, so on Sunday what appears to me her own disappointment — she would have enjoyed the conversation of an intelligent young man — is turn off by talk of clothes. I have determined to trim my lilac sarsenet with black sattin ribbon just as my China Crape is, 6d width at bottom, 3d or 4d at top. — Ribbon trimmings are all the fashion at Bath, & I dare say the fashions of the two places are alike enough in that point, to content me.” The “me” is underlined in the original. The whole utterance connects back. She, Jane, is content with this fashion, but not Fanny is what’s implied — just as Fanny didn’t want Mr Wyndham but Jane had looked forward to him.

But note Diana’s reading of the break aways in Jane’s later talk on the theater: “Then the inevitable topic of finery arises again, and it is amusing that a letter or two ago she was talking of how vulgar women are who wear veils, but as is only human, she now proposes to buy one herself! … More finery – lilac sarsenet, black sattin ribbon, China Crape, and the bon mot, “With this addition it will be a very useful gown, happy to go anywhere.”

Then on Sunday, the two Austens, Henry and Jane, waited until after 4. Imagine them watching clock as they sit and say read (Henry reading Mansfield Park) or write: Jane writing Emma and letter to Cassandra: a “grand thought” for her and Cassandra’s gowns (Cassandra not forgotten). The “roads were so very bad! as it was, they had 4 horses from Cranford Bridge [expensive]. Fanny was miserably cold at first, but they both seem well” — – No possibility of Edwards’s writing.” Now recall Austen has just apologized for writing again so soon, so it’s she not Cassandra who is expecting this writing. He’s had enough apparently.

The court case: Robin Vick (N&Q)explains that James Baigen, “the boy,” was 10 when he stabbed Stephen Mersh who did not die; James’s father was a yeoman farmer. Wickham who sent a letter advising a second prosecution against Edward’s view was a Rt Honorable, served on the Grand Jury under Sir Wm Heathcote for 1814 summer assizes (he’s in the DNB, diplomat, gov’t minister), recently retired a few miles from Chawton. There was no second prosecution. Chapman though there was but the later trial Austen mentions is of her brother, Charles, a court martial.

We may speculate it was two boys fighting; it’s obvious the right thing is to let him off; he’s 10 and prisons were terrible places (you could get a disease; you had to have money for food). We don’t know how old Mersh was but he was okay at the time of the trial. Mr Wickham’s letter which so entranced Jane might have been a philosophical punitive point of view (from which perspective hard to say). Wiser heads prevailed. Quietly again and again we glimpse a Tory/conservative Jane (imperialist, anti-Rousseau new ideas about children). Austen calls him and “Excellent Man” and says just such a letter would Frank have written. It might be he concedes a humane point of view well. Frank I recall was a flogger to the point he was warned he had better restrain himself.

“Excellent Letters; & I am sure he must be an excellent Man. They are such thinking, clear, considerate Letters as Frank might have written.” Were I Marianne and this an utterance by Elinor I would find her cause for starting to ask about the state of my interlocutor’s heart. Frank’s letters (those left) are simple and direct; he’s another “not clever enough to be unintelligible” so Austen would like that, and he is often humane when he writes — he remarkably writes eloquently against bombing as particularly vicious (you don’t risk yourself, you kill non-combatants who don’t have a chance against you) which is however the opposite of what Jane’s admired Paisley advocated.

There is one cross-out — it’s a reference to a Bridges named Edward. So here we have this antagonism to Edward Bridges again, this needling souring of a romance once he married his “poor Honey” (Austen’s famous nasty slur) and then seemed to show up as a flirting man to Jane. In context “Edward is quite [About five words cut out]” is not a reference to Austen’s brother but the party coming.

Frank an excellent man through and through and Edward Bridges a grating annoyance.

Frank as reflected in Jane’s Persuasion (Ciaran Hinds as Wentworth talking of Benwick to Anne Elliot)

Bridges as seen in Miss Austen Regrets: from Nokes’s reading of the letter via Gwynth Hughes’s script (Hugh Bonneville as Bridges)

So much for the aunt’s imagined male love life.

Because Edward and Fanny have come there is therefore much theater-going, visiting and visitors, which requires fixing clothes and shopping with local news from Edward and his worries over a coming lawsuit seeking to unseat him from Godmersham, indeed take all his income. Looking ahead thematically to the other court case mentioned later in the letter: Austen was not correct as Edward did not escape the lawsuit; his opponents did not “knock under” easily but had to be paid a cool 20,000 pounds before they would go away. Before Wyndham’s letters arrives, it is good to see both Edward and Jane agreed on not prosecuting the boy further. I note Edward is friendly first with Fanny Cage and now Louisa. He keeps writing to Louisa. I take it he did think about remarrying, but 11 children and one dead wife was enough (as we are told in the family hearsay)

Diana on Sunday: “Some observations of Fanny, how she liked Bath, the play, the Rooms, the company, the accounts of Lady B. After a break, Jane writes, “Now we are come from Church, & all going to write.” She continues, remarking that everyone has been in mourning (for the Queen’s brother), “but my brown gown did very well.” Another mention of General Chowne from the last letter, “he has not much remains of Frederick,” she says, belaboring the joke that probably refers to his playing that part in Lovers Vows. Young Wyndham makes his excuses after all, and Jane exclaims mock-melodramatically, “It makes one moralize upon the ups & downs of this Life …

Back to domestic matters – buttonholes, travel (Cassandra will travel post at Henry’s expense), a rise in the cost of tea, and inquiries about the Mead and a cook. Then she moves on to Monday …”

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Temple of Bellona, kew Gardens, London in winter

In numerous passages in this letter Austen registers the state of the snow.

Sunday as they wait: “Getting out is impossible. It is a nasty day for everybody. Edward’s spirits will be wanting Sunshine, & here is nothing but Thickness & Sleet; and tho’s these two rooms are delightfully warm I fancy it is very cold abroad.”

Monday: “Here’s a day! The Ground covered with snow! What is to become of us?– we were to have walked out early … Mr Richard Snow is dreadfully fond of us. I dare say he has stretched himself out at Chawton too.”

Gentle reader, have you ever been on a vacation or holiday with people about whom you are kind of burden you must entertain and the weather gets in the way. What shall she do with Fanny who wants thrills and people. Go out anyway. And close reading has turned up another negative use of Richard. I should add that to my blog on negative Richards in Austen’s fiction and non-fiction (from clergyman to Dick who if the Musgraves had any sense they are better off without)

They went as far as Coventry anyway but that was it; they had to put a visit to Spensers off: “It was snowing the whole time”.

It’s in this section we again have signs of this awkwardness between her and Henry or Henry and everyone. He does not say what he wants to do. They cannot just ask him it seems. They must listen carefully for hints. Now Jane realizes by this “careful listening” that Henry really wants to go to Godmersham for a few days before Easter & has promised to do it.”

This being the case Cassandra need not worry she’ll have to stay in London after Adlestrop and she must hurry to come. Indeed it might work out easier if she Jane does not return from Streatham to meet with Cassandra to go home to Chawton but rather Cassandra can join her at Streatham.

Such a “great comfort” to “have got at the truth.” Really? She means temporary relief.

They are very chary around this prickly Henry. And she falls to working out that Henry cannot leave for Oxfordshire before the Wednesday which will be the 23rd — we are talking two weeks ahead and more and he is a mercurial man. That I do agree, mercurial is the word for him (reminding me of Henry Crawford in these movements of his). If he does, they will still not have many days together. It seems she would like to enjoy London with Cassandra and this is not something the sisters are openly willing to admit. They are to be used by others first.

Henry is meanwhile omnipresent as he is in all the letters — coming down the stairs — where she lives with him. She’s intently aware of his presence. Maybe he’s only mentioned twice, but we are to recall (as Cassandra would) that Gen Chowe is a Tilson, and therefore Henry’s business partner. He makes the second directly literary remark of the letter:

— Henry has this moment said that he likes my M.P. better & better; he is in the 3rd vole. — I believe now he has changed his mind as to foreseeing the end; — he said yesterday at least, that he defied anybody to say whether H.D. would be reformed, or would forget Fanny in a fortnight.

Jane pleased; he’s gotten the point. The novel is built on real life contingency, and Henry from all we’ve seen no one to trust at all. Despite her fears that the first part of the novel, the play acting, would be seen as far more entertaining, Henry has in fact liked the courtship and ball part and Portsmouth too. he says “better and better.” That must have pleased her too.

No raspberry Jam for the master of the house says Mme de Bigeon. Cannot Cassandra bring a pot? She is still recording Henry’s state of health as dubious: as he comes down the stairs, “seems well, his cold does not increase.”

Austen jumps about as usual (writing associatively) and when Henry comes over “just this moment” to make his remark about MP which means he’s reading it while she’s writing this late Sunday entry (late in the evening we must imagine) her mind reverts to “Kean” who “I shall like to see again excessively, & to see him with You too; it appeared to me as if there were no fault in him anywhere; & his scene with Tubal was exquisite acting.”

So she’s moved by the man’s loss of his daughter. This is a new attitude (I did talk today of how there is no monolithic 18th century).

We were quite satisfied with Kean. I cannot imagine better acting, but the part was too short, & excepting him & Miss Smith [Sarah Bartley], & she did not quite answer my expectation, the parts were ill filled & the Play heavy. [We were too much tired to stay for the whole of Illusion (Nourjahad) which has 3 acts;-there is a great deal of finery & dancing in it, but I think little merit. Elliston was Nourjahad, but it is a solemn sort of part, not at all calculated for his powers. There was nothing of the best Elliston about him. I might not have known him, but for his voice.-

Diana: “A spirited discussion of an evening at the theatre; about Kean she says enthusiastically “I cannot imagine better acting,” but apart from that “the parts were ill filled & the Play heavy.” They were too tired to stay and see another spectacle, “the whole of Illusion (Nourjahad) which has 3 acts; – there is a great deal of finery & dancing in it, but I think little merit.” Theatrical evenings must have been lengthy! She writes animatedly of the actor William Robert Elliston. “Elliston was Nourjahad, but it is a solemn sort of part, not at all calculated for his powers. There was nothing of the best Elliston about him. I might not have known him, but for his voice.” Jane Austen has seen him before, more than once; and we may satisfy our curiosity on the subject because the “Austen Only” blog has an excellent piece on him and what Jane would have seen and known.

I’ll add that Nourjahad would be one of these oriental allegories, perhaps ultimately from Francis Sheridan. Kean was in temporary decline by this time. We see in the life Diana said how hard life was for theater people. Theater was a many-hour experience, with the first play, afterpieces — often mocking. She did not like the performance of MofV except for Shylock, “heavy”.

On Monday they went again and saw “The Devil to Pay” a comic farce. “I expect to be very amused. — Except Miss Stephens [later Countess of Essex], I dare say Artaxerxes will be very tiresome.” so she saw Dora Jordan who was said to be inimitable in farce (Coffey’s Devil to Pay). She’s not keen on the pantomime or famous clown cited by LeFAye, but now likes the actress she expects to see best.

Penny Gay and Paula Byrne in their respective books about Jane Austen and the theater have written about this farce and the comedy. Gay provides a picture of Dora Jordan in the role (p 21). Remember she was then living with the prince and often pregnant; so this is idealized. Bryne goes on about Jordan and makes much much more about Austen’s remarks on the play here. I see nothing in Austen’s letter to justify saying that she is using her time at the theater as a point of reference. The point of references are the people around her who matter to her, their strong concerns (next time Fanny and her beaux) and hers (her book which Henry is reading, Edwards’ problems and doings, with Frank as our star to aspire towards).

The last reference to the theater is on Farmer’s Wife by Dibdin which again has Miss Stephens, the entry is Tuesday . Read the lines: Austen is going to see Miss Stephens and does not think the interest she feels warrants a Box which Henry wants:

Mr J PLumptre joined us the later part of the Evening — walked home with us, ate some soup, & is very earnest for our going to Covent Garden again tonight to see Miss Stephens in the Farmer’s Wife. He is to try for a Box. I do not particularly wish him to succeed. I have had enough for the present.

Mr J. Plumptre is one of the suitors vying for Fanny’s hand. Wildman, Wyndham, Mr Plumptre. He was the suitor used in Miss Austen Regrets as he did get further and they were serious for a while — we will see this in Austen’s later letters. Plumptre clearly wants to go to the theater to be with Fanny and he is getting a box to please Fanny and her family. As the article cited by LeFaye in the notes will tell you it’s not The Farmer’s Wife that influenced Emma, but The Birthday which is a translation from Koetzbue anyway, not a farce either.

Byrne does deal with The Birthday, but Margaret Kirkham’s section on Emma on both Barrett’s burlesque novel, The Heroine, and Koetzbue’s play and Dibdin’s free translation is much more to the point. See JA, Feminism and Fiction

Dora Jordan as Rosalind by John Hoppner

Not to say that Dora Jordan is not of real interest as a performer and for her life story as a woman of Austen’s time (see Claire Tomalin’s excellent biography). She worked very hard, lived well for a short time, very well, but she was providing the ready money, and then she was dumped, was badly treated at the end, her children taken from her. She had no rights that were respected at all. But Austen does not mention her name. It’s Miss Smith who disappoints her and Miss Stephens whom Austen says goes to the theater for — as well as Edmund Kean.

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From Diana’s conclusion: “By a little convenient listening,” she tells Cassandra candidly, “I now know that Henry wishes to go to Godmersham for a few days before Easter, & has indeed promised to do it.” This gives Cassandra fore knowledge, so she and Jane can better contrive and make plans. “It is a great comfort to have got at the truth,” says Jane. A very clear glimpse of what maneuverings and uncertainties surround their movements.

Now who gave her the ermine tippet? “You cannot think how much my Ermine Tippet is admired both by Father & Daughter. It was a noble Gift.” Father and daughter being Edward and Fanny I suppose.

A knitted tippet for ladies

A brief mention of the lawsuit Edward would become involved in, not amounting to anything yet. In the next sentence she anticipates seeing The Devil to Pay, and expecting to be very much amused. Artaxerxes she dares to say will be tiresome. More finery – “I have been ruining myself in black sattin ribbon with a proper perl edge; & now I am trying to draw it up into kind of Roses, instead of putting it in plain double plaits.” This has to do with Caps, very fancy affairs at that date.

Now she hastily and effusively thanks Cassandra for a letter, and passes on news and messages from Edward – he is amazed at “64 Trees,” and gives directions about a Study Table that is to arrive at Chawton. The evening has been rather tiresome: “Mr. Hampson dined here & all that,” and she was “very
tired of Artaxerxes,” as she thought she would be, though “highly amused with the Farce, & in an inferior way with the Pantomime that followed.” Mr. Plumptre wants them to go to Covent Garden the next night to see Miss Stephens in The Farmer’s Wife. “He is to try for a Box. I do not particularly
wish him to succeed. I have had enough for the present,” Jane Austen finishes.

If you go through the thread of just this you discover that much of it is the result of trying to entertain Fanny amid the persistent snow and the mentions of clothes come up either as a way to turn away from the disappointed romancing (Jane is the one sometimes disappointed as when Wyndham doesn’t come) or fill out where she is bored or to address Cassandra.

Skating Lovers, around 1800

So Jane is not only trying to satisfy Fanny but is soothing Cassandra whose letter arrives the very moment they return from the theater and she hastens to thank her. So good of her, “Thank you thank you.” Casssandra home with Cassy with those fleas. There might seem to be a disconnect here because at the opening Jane is so worried lest Cassandra get angry at her writing. But there is not.

What we have in Austen in this letter is someone trying to please others. No wonder she didn’t get to write as much as we’d like (or she would have).

In this letter the underlying temperament is closer to Fanny Price and Anne Elliot than many would be willing to acknowledge … she is trying to get out of the time there what she can. She likes Miss Stephens, she likes Kean, she likes the landscape. She does not tell us about her writing Emma – that’s hers to keep unspoiled. She is working with Madame Bigeon and Cassandra to supply Henry with raspberry jam.

There Jane did not have to produce acquaintances, she could make them up. There her satire could make her powerful — within limits for after all the NA manuscript was not returned. I sympathize very much.

6 Responses

Do not be angry with me for beginning another Letter to you. I have read the Corsair, mended my petticoat, & have nothing else to do.-Getting out is impossible. It is a nasty day for everybody Edward’s spirits will be wanting Sunshine, & here is nothing but Thickness & Sleet; and tho’ these two rooms are delightfully warm I fancy it is very cold abroad.-Young Wyndham’ accepts the Invitation. He is such a nice, gentlemanlike, unaffected sort of young Man, that I think he may
do for Fanny;–has a sensible, quiet look which one likes.–Our fate
with M. L. & Miss E. is fixed for this day senight.–A civil note is come from Miss H. Moore, to apologise for not returning my visit today
& ask us to join a small party this Evening; Thank ye, but we shall be better engaged.-I was speaking to Mde B. this morns about a boil’d
Loaf, when it appeared that her Master has no Raspberry Jam; she has
some, which of course she is determined he shall have; but cannot you
bring him a pot when you come?-

– Sunday.-I find a little time before breakfast for writing.-It was
considerably past 4 when they arrived yesterday; the roads were so very bad!-as it was, they had 4- Horses from Cranford Bridge. Fanny was miserably cold at first, but they both seem well. -No possibility of Edward’s writing. His opinion however inclines against second prosecution;’ he thinks it would be a vindictive measure. He might
think differently perhaps on the spot.-But things must take their
chance.- We were quite satisfied with Kean. I cannot imagine better acting, but the part was too short, & excepting him & Miss Smith, & she did not quite answer my expectation, the parts were ill filled & the Play heavy. We were too much tired to stay for the whole of Illusion (Nourjahad)” which has 3 acts;-there is a great deal of finery & dancing in it, but I think little merit. Elliston was Nourjahad, but it is a solemn sort of part, not at all calculated for his powers. There was nothing of the best Elliston about him. I might not have known him, but for his voice.-A grand thought has struck me as to our Gowns. This 6 weeks mourning? makes so great a difference that I shall not go to Miss Hare, till you can come & help chuse yourself; unless you particularly wish the contrary-It may be hardly worthwhile perhaps to have the Gowns so expensively made up; we may buy a cap or a veil instead;-but we can talk more of this together.-Henry is just come down, he seems well, his cold does not increase. I expected to have found Edward seated at a table writing to Louisa, but I was first.-Fanny I left fast asleep.-She was doing about last night, when I went to sleep, a little after one.-I am most happy to find there were but five shirts.-She thanks you for your note, & reproaches herself for not having written to you, but I assure her there was no occasion.- The accounts are not capital of Lady B.- Upon the whole I beleive Fanny liked Bath very well. They were onlyout three Evengs;-to one Play & each of the Rooms;-Walked about a good deal, & saw a good deal of the Harrisons & Wildmans.-All the Bridgeses are likely to come away together, & Louisa will probably turn off at Dartford to go to Harriot.-Edward is quite [about five words cut out].-Now we are come from Church, & all going to write.-Almost everybody was in mourning last night, but my brown gown did very well. Gen: Chowne was introduced to me; he has not much remains of Frederick.- This young Wyndham does not come after all; a very long & very civil note of excuse is arrived. It makes one moralize upon the ups & downs of this Life. I have determined to trim my lilac sarsenet with black sattin ribbon just as my China Crape is, 6d width at bottom, 3d or 4d at top.-Ribbon trimmings are all the fashion at Bath, & I dare say the fashions of the two places are alike enough in that point, to content me.-With this addition it will be a very useful gown, happy to go anywhere.-Henry has this moment said that he likes my M.P. better & better; he is in-the 3dVCir===1 beleive now he has changed his mind as to foreseeing the end;-he said yesterday at least, that he defied anybody to say whether H.C. would be reformed, or would forget Fanny in a fortnight.-I shall like to see Kean again excessively, and to see him with You too; it appeared to me as if there were no fault in him anywhere; s: in his scene with Tubal there was exquisite acting. Edward has had a correspondence with M’ Wickham on the Baigent business, & has been shewing me some Letters enclosed by Mr W from a friend of his, a Lawyer, whom he had consulted about it, & whose opinion is for the prosecution for assault, supposing the Boy is acquitted on the first, which he rather expects.-Excellent Letters; & I am sure he must be an excellent Man. They are such-thinking, clear, considerate Letters as Frank might have written. I long to know Who he is, but the name is always torn off. He was consulted only as a friend.-When Edward gave me his opinion against the 2d prosecution, he had not read this Letter, which was waiting for him here.-Mr W is to be on the Grand Jury. This business must hasten an Intimacy between his family & my Brother’s.-Fanny cannot answer your question about button holes till she gets home.-I have never told you, but soon after Henry’s: I began our Journey, he said, talking of Yours, that he sh” desire you to come post at his expence, & added something of the Carriage meeting you at Kingston. He has said nothing about it since.-Now I have just read Mt Wickham’s Letter, by which it appears that the Letters of his
friend were sent to my Brother quite confidentially-therefore do’nt
tell. By his expression, this friend must be one of the Judges. A cold day, but bright & clean.-I am afraid your planting can hardly
have begun.-I am sorry to hear that there has been a rise in tea. I
do not mean to pay Twining till later in the day, when we may order
a fresh supply.-I long to know something of the Mead-& how you
are off for a Cook.-Monday. Here’s a day!- The Ground covered with
snow! What is to become of us?-We were to have walked out early
to near Shops, & had the Carriage for the more distant-e-M’ Richard
Snow is dreadfully fond of us. I dare say he has stretched himself out at Chawton too.-Fanny & I went into the Park yesterday & drove about & were very much entertained;-and our Dinner & Evens went off very well. Mess J. Plumptre &-J. Wildman called while we were out; & we had a glimpse of them both s: of G. Hatton too in the Park. I could not produce a single acquaintance.-By a little convenient
Listening, I now know that Henry wishes to go to Gm for a few days before Easter, & has indeed promised to do it.- This being the case,
there can be no time for your remaining in London after your return
from Adlestrop.-You must not put off your coming therefore;-and it occurs to me that instead of my coming here again from Streatham,
it will be better for you to join me there.-It is a great comfort to have got at the truth.-Henry finds he cannot set off for Oxfordshire before the Wednes which will be ye 23d; but we shall not have too many days together here previously.-I shall write to Catherine” very soon. Well, we have been out, as far as Coventry St; Edw escorted us there & back to Newtons, where he left us, & I brought Fanny safe home. It was snowing the whole time. We have given up all idea of the Carriage. Edward & Fanny stay another day, & both seem very well pleased to do so.-Our visit to the Spencers is of course put off.-Edwt heard from Louisa this morns. Her Mother does not get better, & Dr Parry talks of her beginning the Waters again; this [po 5] will be keeping them longer in Bath, & of course is not palateable. You cannot think how much my Ermine Tippet is admired both by Father & Daughter. It was a noble Gift.-Perhaps you have not heard that” Edward has a good chance of escaping his Lawsuit. II His opponent “knocks under.” The terms of Agreement are not quite settled.-We are to see “the Devil to pay12 to night. I expect to be very much amused.-Excepting Miss Stephens, I dare say Artaxerxes will be very tiresome.-A great many pretty Caps in the Windows of Cranbourn Alley!-I hope when you come, we shall both be tempted.-I have been ruining myself in black sattin ribbon with a proper perl edge; & now I am trying to draw it up into kind of Roses, instead of putting it in plain double plaits.- Tuesday. My dearest Cassandra in ever so many hurries I acknowledge the receipt of your Letter last night, just before we set off for Covent Garden.-I have no Mourning come, but it does not signify: This very moment has Rich put it on the Table.-I have torn it open & read your note. Thank you, thank you, thank you.-

Edw” is amazed at the 64 Trees. He desires his Love & gives you notice of the arrival of a Study Table for himself. It ought to be
at Chawton this week. He begs you to be so good as to have it enquired for, & fetched by the Cart; but wishes it not to be unpacked
till he is on the spot himself. It may be put in the Hall.-Well, Mr Hampson dined here & all that. I was very tired of Artaxerxes,
highly amused with the Farce, & in an inferior way with the Pantomimethat followed. Mr J. Plumptre joined us the latter part of the Evens walked home with us, ate some soup, & is very earnest for our going to Coy. Gar. again to night to see Miss Stephens in the Farmers Wife.’ He is to try for a Box. I do not particularly wish him to succeed. I have had enough for the present.-Henry dines to day with Mt Spencer.-
Yours very affec
J. Austen
Miss Austen
Chawton
By favour of
Mt Cray

Stephens, Catherine [Kitty; married name Catherine Capel-Coningsby, countess of Essex] (1794–1882), singer and actress, was born at 85 Park Street, Grosvenor Square, London, on 18 September 1794, the daughter of Edward Stephens (c.1768–1827), a carver and gilder. Her choice of career was probably influenced by her elder sister Elizabeth (later Mrs J. Smith), who performed in Liverpool and then at Drury Lane from 1798 until around 1806. According to Oxberry, the two Misses Stephens ‘mutually assisted each other’ (Oxberry, 123), but Catherine was soon to supersede her sister, to become one of the most popular English singers of her generation.

In 1807 Catherine’s father articled her for five years to Gesualdo Lanza, a respectable singing-master, who gave her a thorough grounding in Italian vocal technique. Lanza introduced her to musical society at concerts in Bath, Bristol, Southampton, Ramsgate, and Margate, sometimes billing her as Miss Young. In 1812, presumably with Lanza’s blessing, she began her London career in evenings of music and recitation at the Freemasons’ Tavern (The Museodeum). She was also engaged to sing in burlettas presented by an Italian opera company at the Pantheon: she appeared as Cherubino in their production of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (2 May 1812), the first staging of this opera in London (acts I and II only were given); her duet with Teresa Bertinotti-Radicati, probably ‘Aprite, presto, aprite’, was encored consistently. Stephens gave her final performance as Lanza’s pupil at a concert given by Samuel Wesley and Samuel Webbe in Ramsgate on 3 October 1812: after this, to Lanza’s dismay, her father transferred her to Thomas Welsh, who had heard her at a private concert. Welsh launched her at concerts in Manchester on 17 and 19 November.

Stephens made her Covent Garden début as Mandane in Arne’s Artaxerxes (23 September 1813). Her great success, particularly in the airs ‘Checked by duty, racked by love’ and ‘The soldier tired of war’s alarms’, invited comparison with Angelica Catalani and Elizabeth Billington: both divas attended her performance in this role, and afterwards ‘paid her their joint tribute of admiration of her vocal powers’ (Morning Chronicle, 10 Nov 1813). Stephens was courted by London’s Italian Opera Company at the King’s Theatre following Catalani’s departure, but lack of fluency in Italian led her to decline this and subsequent offers of engagement from that theatre.

Stephens continued to succeed that season as Polly in The Beggar’s Opera, as Clara in The Duenna, and as Rosetta in Love in a Village. Hazlitt’s reviews were particularly enthusiastic, and his account of her performance as Polly led Stephens to visit the offices of the Morning Chronicle in person to express her thanks. Her newly acquired fame provoked a dispute in the press between Lanza and Welsh, each of whom claimed the honour of having instructed her. She played Ophelia to the Hamlet of Young and J. P. Kemble, and continued to sing leading roles at Covent Garden with few interruptions until 1824, when, following disagreements with the managers, she transferred to Drury Lane and the English Opera House. There she sang in Henry Bishop’s Aladdin, put on to rival Weber’s Oberon at Covent Garden; Weber saw it, and wrote approvingly of Kitty Stephens’s performance. She only returned to Covent Garden in 1828.

Out of season, Stephens toured the British Isles. In August and September 1816 she appeared at the Crow Street Theatre, Dublin, and the Freeman’s Journal declared, ‘we do not recollect that any other performer, in so short a time, became so great a favourite with a Dublin audience’ (7 September 1816). She returned to Ireland again in the latter half of 1818 (when she performed in Dublin, Limerick, Kilkenny, and Cork), and again in July 1821 and 1825. The diary of her brother Edward Maxwell Stephens, who seems to have acted as her manager from around 1817, details her performances throughout Britain, a trip to France in November 1821 (including many visits to the Paris Opéra), financial affairs, and social life until her marriage in 1838.

Stephens’s voice was full and rich, but for some critics she lacked expression and dramatic fire. Though often considered deficient in the bravura style, she was deeply admired in ‘ballads and songs of simple declamation’, which she performed with little embellishment in a ‘purely English’ manner: ‘it is impossible for any thing to be more pure, more chaste than the simplicity with which Miss Stephens gives such songs as “Auld Robin Gray”’ (Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review, 3.62–3). Her acting skills were limited, as W. C. Macready recalled: ‘in all the various characters allotted to her she represented only one: but the magic spell of that was never known to fail’ (Macready’s Reminiscences, 1.133).

Despite her popularity on the stage, therefore, many thought Stephens at her finest in concert. She sang at the Concerts of Ancient Music for two decades from 1814, and it was probably here that she was ‘instructed in all she knew of the sacred school by William Knyvett’ (Phillips, 1.144). She also made her début at the Philharmonic concerts in 1814, and performed there regularly until 1827. In April 1821 she sang at the royal concerts at Brighton under George Smart, but, as the latter noted, her voice did not please the king.

Stephens seems to have had a penchant for Mozart, and often selected numbers from his operas as concert items. She sang Zerlina and Susanna in the first English-language adaptations of Mozart’s Don Giovanni (1817, Covent Garden) and Le nozze di Figaro (1819, Covent Garden). She was also one of three who sang Agnes (Agathe) in Hawes’s English adaptation of Weber’s Der Freischütz (1824, English Opera House). Weber himself composed for Stephens a setting of ‘From Chindara’s warbling fount I come’, which she had chosen from Thomas Moore’s Lallah Rookh. This was to be Weber’s final composition: she sang it at his benefit concert on 26 May 1826, when the composer improvised a piano accompaniment he did not live long enough to commit to paper (a sketch, with complete vocal part, survives in manuscript).

Oxberry described Stephens as about ‘medium height’ with a figure ‘more pleasing than excellent’; ‘her hair and eyes are dark; and her countenance is fascinating, though not strictly speaking handsome’ (Oxberry, 135–6). She apparently looked older and graver than her years. Lord Milton and the duke of Devonshire were said to have been among her suitors, but the general consensus was that her conduct remained as ‘pure’ and ‘chaste’ as her singing: ‘this pretty English ballad-singer … was, in every relation of life, simply admirable, … her reputation was as unblemished as the new-fallen snow’ (obituary, unidentified newspaper, BL, Add. MS 35027, fol. 90r).

By 1835 Stephens’s voice had become thin and her intonation unsteady, and she retired from the stage having amassed considerable wealth (the Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review estimated that by 1822 she was netting £2500 each winter season from private parties alone). On 14 April 1838, aged forty-four, she married George Capel-Coningsby, fifth earl of Essex (1757–1839). The octogenarian earl was a ‘distinguished patron of the drama’, whose estranged wife had died three months earlier (Era Almanack, 67). A testament to the purity of her reputation was her reception at court by Queen Victoria, who recorded in her journal that Lord Essex had been ‘excessively pleased’ by her ‘having called up Lady Essex … at the Ball and having spoken to her’. The queen and Lord Melbourne agreed ‘she was a very nice person’ (Esher, 1.374). Following Lord Essex’s death on 23 April 1839, Catherine continued to live at 9 Belgrave Square, the house in which she had been married, until she died of bronchitis on 22 February 1882. She was buried at Kensal Green cemetery on 28 February. She left her entire personal estate, valued at more than £70,000, to her unmarried niece Esther Mathilda Johnstone, with whom she had often sung duets. It seems that in her retirement Stephens missed the theatrical life: she observed to Macready ‘that she had never been so happy as when she was on the stage’ (Macready’s Reminiscences, 2.58).

She refers to two actresses. I find that interesting. I can’t use the DNB because LeFaye hasn’t even discovered her first name – which might be on the bill (it could just be “Miss Smith.” I was amused by LeFaye’s solemn note: “Actress; appeared in Merchant of Venice at Drury Lane, with Kean as Shylock, March 1814, and also as Desmona to his Othello. The first part is a parsing of Austen’s own letter. Where she got the second I can’t say; perhaps Austen mentions Miss Smith again.

Austen is just now writing Emma. Do we have the origin of “Miss Smith’ in this actress. Miss Smith “did not quite answer Austen’s expectation.” What did this Miss Smith look like?

Lastly Miss Stephens who Austen mentions twice and says twice she liked. I have not yet gotten the article “A Rustic Emma” but am waiting still. In the meantime In brief, she had a long successful career as a singer, and married a much much older rich man later in life; let us hope he left her a lot of money; from a friend on ECW:

In Opera in London: Views of the Press 1785-1830 you will find a fairly
detailed performance biography of Catherine Stephens, who made her debut in Artaxerxes (as Mandane) at Covent Garden in 1813. She was the theatre’s leading singer for many years. “Her voice is sweet, distinct, and feminine: without a rage for ornament, it has the evidence of tasteful training.” The sort of performer who would appeal to Jane, given her appreciation for music. Stephens played heroines in operatic works by Dibdin and Dimond and others.

Her career was long, lasting until 1835. In 1838 she married the 5th Earl
of Essex, many years her senior, whom she outlived by many years.”

I only demur at Jane’s love of music. We know she makes a great point of disliking music; or refusing to admit to enthusiasm, interest or knowledge, implying others who go into ecstasies are hypocrites. I did find her described in MacQueen Pope’s Ladies First. Unfortunately the entry is written in the condescending slightly jocular style (she’s called “Kitty” as if he knew her) that characterized much writing about actresses in the 18th century until the later 20th century. M-P does not explain why Miss Stephens came to have money before she married so we may surmize: she was successful or she presented herself as successful. He says she led “a blameless life.” Of course that refers to sex and means she was seen as chaste — as was Elizabeth Farren who also married up into the aristocracy.. Note the space M-P gives over to a semi-salacious story instead of giving more information about her career as a “popular hostess” if she really did manage that.

When Kitty Stephens, who became the Countess of Essex, wasan earnest young pupil, whose brilliant future was unguessed even by those aware of the thrilling promise of her lovely soprano voice, a professor of music fell in love with her. He was one of her teachers, and her family, particularly her father, a carver and gilder in Park Street, Grosvenor Square, thought it an excellent match and readily gave his consent when his daughter’s hand was asked for. Kitty’s objections to the proposal were overruled, very persuasively, of course, and the day came when the eager groom stood awaiting his brick at the altar for a ceremony many had
assembled to watch. Kitty, a beautiful but unsmiling bride, was led up the aisle on the arm of her proud papa and came at last to a halt. It seemed all over bar the congratulations, but when Kitty was asked to stand by the man she was to take for better or worse, etc., etc., she looked at him almost in surprise, gave a girlish giggle that finished up as a peal of laughter and, gathering her skirts, turned and sprinted down the aisle and out of the church to the street that led to her home. Neither the cajoling or the tearful expostulations of her mother could persuade her to return to the church to accept the bonds of holy matrimony, and so the wedding had, reluctantly, to be called off.Kitty, -who was born Catherine Stephens on September 18, 1794, and made her theatrical debut at Covent Garden when she was nineteen, was, to give her her due, always more interested in music than men. She had a voice that was pure soprano and she disciplined herself as only the real artist can, for she would practise anything from eight to ten hours a day .. Her stage appearance was an immediate success and when she played Polly and then Rosetta in Love in a Village her name was on’ everybody’s lips. She sang at Covent Garden for seven years and was held to be the
peer of Catalini and Mrs. Billington, the supreme singers of their
day. A great singer of ballads, Kitty commanded even the admiration of her rivals and Mrs. Billington, in a generous eulogy, said Kitty sang some songs as they would never be sung again. She also played at Drury Lane-between 1823 and 1827 and though concert singing suited her best the crowds followed wherever she went. It is recorded that one man attended for fifteen years every performance at which she sang. He would wait for the pit doors to open and rush in to secure his favourite seat; in the middle of the third row. There he sat silent and enchanted until
the show was over, when he would make a wild dash to see Kitty leave. Having seen her drive off in her carriage, he himself would vanish. He followed her everywhere, even when she went to Dublin to sing. He never attempted to approach or speak to her, and was content to admire her from a respectable distance. Although the poor fellow ended up in an asylum, he was not too mad to be enthralled by a beautiful voice .

Kitty was a handsome and attractive woman who led a blame-
less life. Men Were drawn to her, but it was a one-way traffic and
she is said to have refused the marriage offers of a Lord and also a
Duke. Perhaps that early escape deterred her, but she. finally
surrendered, when she was an extremely well-to-do woman of
forty-four and still able to command her public. There was no
question of love on her part, for she married, in his eighty-first
year, the Earl of Essex, an octogenarian who had buried his wife a
few months previously. Kitty was wed on April 18, 1838, and she
settled her own considerable means on her relations and was
amply compensated by her husband. He died the following
year, but Kitty was satisfied to remain a widow. As the Dowager
Countess of Essex she became a popular hostess and society
figure and entertained at her home – at 9 Belgrave Square. She
retained her interest and affection for her old profession and,
quite remarkably, her good looks. She died in 1882 and was
buried in Kensal Green.

Sarah Williamson or O’Shaughnessy Smith Bartley aka “Miss Smith” Sarah Smith (born Williamson or O’Shaughnessy, probably in Ireland,
1783?-1850) She often played opposite Kean, as Desdemona to his Othello and Ophelia to his Hamlet and Lady Randolph to his Glenalvon.

In his biography of Kean, Giles Playfair quotes John Cam Hobhouse: “Miss
Smith who had been acting Desdemona came in [to the Green Room.] She said
that Kean affected her very much in his Othello. She couldn’t help crying. She also said he is a very encouraging and kind gentleman to play with…”

Fitzgerald Molloy describes her as “Endowed with a beautiful and expressive face, a clear and melodious voice, a well-formed and graceful figure, she had readily become a favourite with the town. Her style and manner were said to closely resemble Mrs Siddons, whose merits no other actress had up to this time so nearly approached; and in her performances Kean found valuable support.”

After a brief courtship from “thriving wooer” (The Metropolitan) she
married Mr George Bartley (1782-1858), an actor/stage manager at Covent Garden where she performed, “and under that titles resumed her station on the London boards.” Bartley has also been described as her longtime love, so it might’ve been rather a longer courtship than described in the 1836 periodical. They both travelled to the US to tour “and in the several states of America realized, in a comparatively short period, a comfortable independent fortune.” Having obtained the money that lured them away from England, they returned to London. He resumed his position at Covent Garden but both Bartleys later joined Drury Lane Theatre where he had performed in earlier years.Eventually she gave up the stage altogether to become an acting teacher/coach to theatrical hopefuls and focus on their children.

The Bartleys were friends and correspondents and supporters of Joanna
Baillie and her works, so you will find communications to them in her Collected Letters, particularly during the 1820’s-30’s.

Mr and Mrs Bartley have always been respected in private life, as well as
admired in their professional capacities. They have a splendid house in one of our north-western squares, and to all appearance enjoy the wealth which their untiring industry and has amassed by acting and pupilizing [sic].”
The Metropolitan, 1836.

Nancy Mayor remarked that Austen could have read about actress’s lives in the magazines or periodicals of the era: if by that she means to imply that Austen didn’t have to be that interested in the actresses to know these details, I agree. But it is telling (to me at any rate) that in each case she singles out to mention the woman’s name. I take it as a woman she identified, or they drew her interest automatically. I’ve noticed repeatedly in this long era before newspapers became prevalent (way before TV and easy access to pop information, often bogus) writing women (who left letters) know a lot about what’s going on politically and socially well outside their small local world or family. On the other hand, to say that in this letter or some of the others she is primarily interested in the theater or erect a whole theory around the reference, is absurd because in quite a number of cases she doesn’t name the play even. Just says she went and her details are about something else. Not so in this case; in this case she shows real interest in Kean, and praises an actress-singer. By the end of the fourth day though she has had enough of the socializing and theater-going she has had to do. E.M.